Mack Breaks The Case

Twenty years in the seaside town of Brighton, England, has given Paz Wheat the notion he's seen it all as a private investigator. But that's before young 'wild spirit' Alison ('Mack') tumbles bewildered and unannounced into his office. For the buttoned-up Anglo-American there's nothing more unnerving than a touch of the random, but what does this enigmatic bohemian want? Surely not the job that hasn't even been advertised yet? It's a mystery and he dislikes mysteries until they're solved, and then he loves them.

Thus begins a relationship that changes both: the solitary man wedded to his work and the firebrand living with her long-term girlfriend. Paramount to them are the cases they handle sometimes intricate, always intriguing, like The Chagall Lithograph, The Shadow Yacht, A Box Of Air, and The Everything Man. They investigate strange disappearances - missing persons, but also artworks - and grapple with the trickiest of fraudsters and chancers.

John Holmes has extensive experience working with investigators, loss adjusters, and lawyers. As a social sciences graduate he has a keen interest in the psychology of the private investigator. His previous books include the surrealist Lily Upshire Is Winning - part coming-of-age story, part corporate satire.